Ukraine: Fetal Stem Cell Pioneers is a sequel to The God Cells – released in 2023.

SYNOPSIS:
Ukraine: Fetal Stem Cell Pioneers follows Americans who, for the past decade, have received fetal stem cell therapy in Ukraine—including during the current Russian invasion. Ukraine is the only country in the world where this therapy can be legally obtained. This story also takes a deep dive into Ukraine’s 30-years of research and development of this technology, born from the tragedy of the Chernobyl disaster when Ukrainian doctors used fetal stem cells, for the first time in world history, to cure radiation-induced bone marrow failure.

DIRECTOR STATEMENT:
In my 15 years making documentaries, I find this documentary to be my most important work yet. This documentary shows how this therapy allowed a nonverbal autistic child to begin speaking for the first time, another autistic child began functioning normally. This therapy has resulted in a 15-year old girl with muscular dystrophy living a normal life, while all other children her age with her diagnosis are in wheelchairs, on feeding tubes, and respirators—if they are even alive. It also shows near complete remissions of Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis. Regardless of the current Russian invasion, Americans are still making the trip into a “war zone” to get this therapy. I also show how me and 8 other Americans traveled by train from Warsaw to Kyiv, Ukraine to get this therapy — during the war.

This story also explores the ubiquitous market and regulatory roadblocks preventing this therapy from becoming available in the rest of the world. At present, Fetal Stem Cell therapy is exclusively legal and regulated in Kyiv, Ukraine, with EmCell leading the way as the world’s pioneers in the field.